Repurposing NGO data for better research outcomes: A scoping review of the use and secondary analysis of NGO data in health policy and systems research

Background Non-government organisations (NGOs) collect and generate vast amounts of potentially rich data, most of which are not used for research purposes. Secondary analysis of NGO data (their use and analysis in a study for which they were not originally collected) presents an important but largely unrealised opportunity to provide new research insights in critical areas including the evaluation of health policy and programmes. Methods A scoping review of the published literature was performed to identify the extent to which secondary analysis of NGO data has been used in health policy and systems research (HPSR). A tiered analytic approach provided a comprehensive overview and descriptive analyses of the studies which: 1) used data produced or collected by or about NGOs; 2) performed secondary analysis of the NGO data (beyond use of an NGO report as a supporting reference); 3) used NGO-collected clinical data. Results Of the 156 studies which performed secondary analysis of NGO-produced or collected data, 64% (n=100) used NGO-produced reports (e.g. to critique NGO activities and as a contextual reference) and 8% (n=13) analysed NGO-collected clinical data.. Of the studies, 55% investigated service delivery research topics, with 48% undertaken in developing countries and 17% in both developing and developed. NGO-collected clinical data enabled HPSR within marginalised groups (e.g. migrants, people in conflict-affected areas), with some limitations such as inconsistencies and missing data. Conclusion We found evidence that NGO-collected and produced data are most commonly perceived as a source of supporting evidence for HPSR and not as primary source data. However, these data can facilitate research in under-researched marginalised groups and in contexts that are hard to reach by academics, such as conflict-affected areas. NGO–academic collaboration could help address issues of NGO data quality to facilitate their more widespread use in research. Their use could enable relevant and timely research in the areas of health policy, programme evaluation and advocacy to improve health and reduce health inequalities, especially in marginalised groups and developing countries

VTV interactive evaluation of the orientation phase

Met dit evaluatie-rapport wordt de orientatie-fase van het project VTV Interactief afgesloten. De resultaten van de fase zijn een algemene analyse van een interactief document, een geimplementeerde demonstratie-versie en een beschrijving van de daarin uitgebeelde mechanismen. De belangrijkste conclusie van dit onderzoek is dat een interactief werkstation voor het volledig redigeren van een VTV-document nog niet mogelijk is. Wel zijn voor de diverse doelgroepen hulpmiddelen aanwezig of te maken. Lezers van VTV documenten met verschillende interesse-profielen worden door een interactieve versie van (een deel van) de Volksgezondheids Toekomst Verkenningen in staat gesteld de door hun gewenste informatie te benaderen met behulp van interactieve mechanismen ten behoeve van de ontsluiting van, de navigatie door en de presentatie van informatie. De redactie van een VTV document kan op dit moment geen hulp van VTV Interactief verwachten ; voor deze groep bestaan echter software-pakketten die problemen specifiek op dit gebied oplossen (met meerdere auteurs aan een document werken, versiebeheer e.d.).De bestaande hulpmiddelen voor het fabriceren van een interactief document zijn onvoldoende doordat zij geen rekening houden met veranderingen in het in bewerking zijnde document. Het statische karakter van de in het document aan te brengen structuur vraagt veel onderhoud na elke wijziging. Wel zijn talen in ontwikkeling. Een eventueel vervolg (op langere termijn) van VTV-interactief zal zich moeten aansluiten bij de internationaal erkende standaards Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) en Hypermedia/Time-based Document Structuring Language (HyTime). Ten aanzien van de presentatie van verschillende typen informatie moeten algemeen geldende afspraken gemaakt worden. De ontwikkelde ontsluitings- en navigatiemechanismen zijn voor VTV-onderzoekers van belang. Het voorstel is deze in de modelleeromgeving M te integreren, vooral gericht op grafische presentatie en onderzoek van gegevens.Forecasts for the environment or public health depend on a collaborative effort of many contributors and result in a body of knowledge that is only partly accessible in the rather encyclopedic reports published by RIVM. By presenting results as interactive documents, access can be improved by easy search and browse routines. This allows the user access to both more information and different information, since the models used to derive particular forecasts could also be made available for the evaluation of different scenarios. This report discusses the general characteristics of interactive documents and describes a prototype for such a document implemented using MacroMind Director. The prototype shows that the technology for designing and distributing such documents is available. Its main limitations are the delivery platforms required, the lack of standards and the cost of developing new documents. Since powerful multimedia platforms are rapidly becoming generally available and standards are also emerging (SGML, HTML), the first two limitations can all but be ignored on any reasonable time scale for the implementation of the infrastructure required for the production of interactive documents. However, the efficiency of this production process and therefore its cost will depend mainly on RIVM itself, i.e. on the way we design this infrastructure. The starting point for this design should be the working environment (the workstation) for the editors, analists and researchers involved in putting the forecasts together. Experience with the prototype shows that when interactive versions are created by people outside the project concerned, one can only avoid wasting effort by waiting until the written documents (and by implication the models, datasets and various scenario studies) have been finalized. At the same time, one desperately needs the project team to specify appropriate decompositions of the documents and indicate how they would like the information to be used and presented. To assure this participation, the design of an interactive version should become an integral part of the work on the document itself and actually support the work on this document, by allowing team members easier access to each other contributions. The design of an appropriate environment for the construction of interactive versions can therefore only be resolved within the broader context of a general infrastructure supporting collaborative work in a network integrating text editing, document handling, visualization, database access and modelling. In the mean time, the specific suggestions for text browsing contained in this document are used as a basis for the documentation facilities that are being added to the M modelling and visualization environment. This environment is used for modelling by the Office for Public Health Forecasting (VTV) and other at RIVM.RIV

Pleurozium schreberi as bioindicator of mercury pollution in heavily industrialized region

Contains fulltext : 123470.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Effects of straw and silicon soil amendments on some foliar and stem-base diseases in pot-grown winter wheat

Four foliar and two stem-base pathogens were inoculated onto wheat plants grown in different substrates in pot experiments. Soils from four different UK locations were each treated in three ways: (i) straw incorporated in the field at 10 t ha−1 several months previously; (ii) silicon fertilization at 100 mg L−1 during the experiment; and (iii) no amendments. A sand and vermiculite mix was used with and without silicon amendment. The silicon treatment increased plant silica concentrations in all experiments, but incorporating straw was not associated with raised plant silica concentrations. Blumeria graminis and Puccinia recondita were inoculated by shaking infected plants over the test plants, followed by suitable humid periods. The silicon treatment reduced powdery mildew (B. graminis) substantially in sand and vermiculite and in two of the soils, but there were no effects on the slight infection by brown rust (P. recondita). Phaeosphaeria nodorum and Mycosphaerella graminicola were inoculated as conidial suspensions. Leaf spot caused by P. nodorum was reduced in silicon-amended sand and vermiculite; soil was not tested. Symptoms of septoria leaf blotch caused by M. graminicola were reduced by silicon amendment in a severely infected sand and vermiculite experiment but not in soil or a slightly infected sand and vermiculite experiment. Oculimacula yallundae (eyespot) and Fusarium culmorum (brown foot rot) were inoculated as agar plugs on the stem base. Severity of O. yallundae was reduced by silicon amendment of two of the soils but not sand and vermiculite; brown foot rot symptoms caused by F. culmorum were unaffected by silicon amendment. The straw treatment reduced severity of powdery mildew but did not detectably affect the other pathogens. Both straw and silicon treatments appeared to increase plant resistance to all diseases only under high disease pressure